From Soviet Union's Aggressions Against the World, Gen. Oleg Sarin & Col. Lev Dvoretsky, 1996

In attempting to achieve his strategic mission of worldwide revolution, Communist penetration into Asia played a prominent role in Stalin's foreign policy. As history tells us, the USSR finally joined the Allies against Japan in the last days of the war in the Pacific. Stalin saw this attack against the Japanese in August 1945 as a chance to cause the capitulation of the Kwangtung Army, seize Japanese territory like Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, and position himself to make other inroads in this vast and important part of the world.

( pages 78-9 )

Comment   The "USSR finally joined the Allies against Japan in the last days of the war" — which had already been for all purposes won. This was a few days after the first atom-bombing and a few days before Japan's capitulation. The USSR's effort in this one war-theatre consisted mainly in collecting the spoils. — (WPT)

 

If is very difficult for us to provide in this book a true picture of the Soviet-American air war. It is a long time ago, but the main obstacle is the veil of secrecy placed over the events as they were happening. Stalin did everything he could to deceive the world on our involvement. Soviet identification markings on the aircraft were replaced by those of China. Pilots were deprived of any Soviet identification and they were warned to be silent. At first they wore Chinese uniforms and later some were disguised as Koreans. They wore no shoulder straps, putting on only badges with Stalin's and Mao's profiles on them. To avoid capture, they were prevented from flying over the sea or close to the front lines, although . . . in emergencies they sometimes did not keep to these guidelines. One of the rules that annoyed our pilots most was the prohibition of speaking in Russian over radio. They were given notes with Chinese or Korean phrases written in Russian. But as one of the veterans put it, "Who will look for the necessary word during combat?"

( pages 78-9 )

 

Like the Vietnamese, the Afghan rebels learned their guerrilla tactics from the teachings of Mao and the other Red Chinese leaders. They involved the entire populace in supporting them. To avoid losses from aviation and artillery, their detachments stayed dispersed, living among the local people and changing locations often.

( page 202 )

Alien wars : the Soviet Union's aggressions
against the world, 1919 to 1989 / Oleg Sarin, Lev Dvoretsky
Novato, CA : Presidio, 1996.